Resilience: Sustaining the supply chain

July 2012

At a glance

Companies need to protect the integrity of their supply chains to avoid damage to their reputations. In this report, we outline strategies for environmental and social issues in the supply chain. A resilient supply chain requires combining both ‘play not to lose’ and ‘play to win’ strategies.

Mounting costs and heightened vulnerability of global supply chains have challenged operations leaders in recent years. As a result, more progressive strategies to manage risk in the supply chain are emerging, including those related to environmental damage, safety concerns, and labor practices.

In this article, we give examples of "play not to lose" and "play to win" strategies companies are using to manage risk in the supply chain related to environmental and social issues.